Column | Why Kamala Harris lost the election

After the results of the election and Donald Trump’s win, Democrats are scrambling to understand why Kamala Harris lost. Although it’s difficult to really understand the exact reasons her campaign failed, there are a few answers I believe to have played a major role in her difficult and unfortunate loss. 

First of all, one of Trump’s biggest selling points for his campaign was that he was going to fix the economy. Trump’s past and continuing facade as a successful celebrity businessman has allowed him to create the illusion that he is a genius economist. Six of 10 people think that the economy is poor, but despite the illusion of success that Trump has fabricated, we are still under his tax plan — something many of his supporters, and the public as a whole, fail to realize.

A good portion of the population associates the relatively stable economy during Trump’s 2016-2020 administration with Trump himself. Although this is an understandable association, it is not an accurate one. The presiding president can only affect the economy so much, and the president prior to that plays a large role in the economy that we often overlook. The Federal Reserve has arguably more power than the president economically because it can raise and lower interest rates, in turn affecting the economy. That does not mean that a president’s actions do not matter — it just means the economy is constantly changing regardless of what the president does.

Another one of Harris’s biggest issues was the short time she had to execute her campaign. Biden’s dropout in late July 2024 did not leave Harris much time to develop a strong campaign. Harris needed to build up her character, but she also needed to focus more on conveying her own stances. She focused a lot on attacking Trump and his character, but she failed to properly present her own stances to the American people. Trump had arguably eight years to establish his, while Harris only had three months. 

Harris also fell short in separating herself from Biden. 62% of people have an unfavorable view of Biden. People see him as weak and old — rightfully so — but Harris did not do enough to differentiate herself from him. However, she did focus on a few main issues like building an “opportunity economy,” protecting abortion access and empowering small businesses. Her lack of time made it impossible to reach everyone and to properly convey not only these primary stances, but every issue she considers to be important. 

Many people, for whatever reason, are under the impression that Harris has done nothing during her time as vice president. In reality, this is not the case. She has two main jobs — advising the president and breaking ties in the Senate. She has broken 33 ties — the most tie-breaking votes out of any vice president in all of U.S. history — yet, as a country, we continue to fail to acknowledge her accomplishments. One of her most notable tie-breaking votes was passing the Inflation Reduction Act. This act addressed issues like climate change and health care costs, and it’s already helping to improve the cost of living. 

I think we fail to acknowledge these accomplishments in part because she is a woman. Not only has she been successful as vice president, she is one of the most qualified people to ever run for president of the United States. She has a bachelor’s degree in political science and economics and a law degree. She went on to be the first female attorney general in California and was later elected as a U.S. senator in 2016. She ran for president in 2020, joined Joe Biden as his running mate, and was inducted as vice president in 2021. 

Trump, on the other hand, was in real estate, hosted a reality show called “The Apprentice,” filed seven bankruptcies and then ran for president. Since then, he has been convicted on 34 felony counts and found liable for sexual assault, fraud and defamation. Despite the stark contrast between their qualifications, Harris is continually ignored and her accomplishments diminished. Despite this, so many people look at Trump and Harris and say that Trump is the more qualified candidate — which, to me, is clear misogyny.

Trump himself has also talked about women in completely inappropriate, demeaning and horrifying ways, but his supporters ignore this. They say it’s “unfortunate” and that other issues are more important to them. I would say the sentence, “Grab them by the pussy, you can do anything,” is at least a little bit more than unfortunate. It is unlikely that voters who can excuse this disgusting language will vote for a woman, no matter her qualifications.

The lack of acknowledgment of Harris’s accomplishments, plus the way Trump speaks about women, makes this presidential race personal to so many people. As a woman, I am deeply disappointed that, as a country, we refuse to put a woman into the presidential office. Even with Harris’s qualifications, she is overlooked. Many women, including myself, have felt overlooked in academic and professional settings, and the election further validates that feeling. As a woman who is proud to call herself an American, it is so painful to see my country elect an underqualified, demeaning, hateful man over an extremely qualified and compassionate woman. 

Zion Schenk likes to write about politics, art, and culture. Email her at zms42@pitt.edu